‘Hamnet’ Wins 50th Toronto Film Festival Audience Award; ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ are Runners-Up
Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet has won the TIFF People’s Choice Award of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, making her the first director to win the TIFF People’s Choice Award twice. She previously won for 2020’s Nomadland, which went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture.
Hamnet, adapted from the novel by Maggie O’Farrell, tells the story of Agnes and Will Shakespeare, whose only son died at the age of 11 and became the inspiration for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal star in the film alongside Jacobi Jupe as the titular Hamnet, Joe Alwyn, and Emily Watson. Focus Features is set to release the film in select theaters in the U.S. on November 27 and wide on December 12.
Since the expansion of Best Picture in 2009, the winner of the TIFF People’s Choice Award has been one of our strongest Oscar bellwethers, whether its for a nomination or a win. Just one year prior, in 2008, Slumdog Millionaire began its march to the Oscars here. Since the expansion, only 2011’s Where Do We Go Now? from Nadine Labaki failed to make the cut. 2013’s 12 Years a Slave, 2018’s Green Book and 2020’s Nomadland translated their wins here to Best Picture wins. Last year’s TIFF winner, Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck, a NEON release earlier this year, is likely to join the Labaki film as a rare miss.
Prior to 2000, only the overall winner was named each year; in that year, the festival began announcing the first and second runners-up for the award as well. At the 2004 festival, no first or second runners-up were officially named for the People’s Choice Award; however, festival director Piers Handling did provide the media with a list of numerous other films that had been in the running, including Crash, Gunner Palace, I, Claudia, Up and Down, 3-Iron, Ma Mère, The Holy Girl, Red Dust, Brides, Saving Face and Sideways. The festival named four runners-up rather than two in 2005, and only one runner-up in 2010, but has otherwise always named two runners-up for the award.
A pair of Netflix films found themselves in the top 3: Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, starring Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi, was the first runner-up, while Rian Johnson’s third film in his Knives Out trilogy, Wake Up Dead Man, was second runner-up.
Splitting off the international and documentary films, the TIFF People’s Choice winner for International Film was Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice, followed up by Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value and Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound.
The documentary award went to Barry Avrich’s The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, which had a rocky road to TIFF when the festival initially pulled the October 7 doc from the lineup before invited it back after public pressure. Baz Luhrmann’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert and Nick Davis’ You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution… were runners-up.
The TIFF People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award went to Matt Johnson’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.
The full list of winners of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival people’s choice and juried awards:
TIFF People’s Choice Award presented by Rogers: Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet
First Runner-up: Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein
Second Runner-up: Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
TIFF People’s Choice International Award presented by Rogers: Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice
First Runner-up: Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value
Second Runner-up: Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound
TIFF People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award presented by Rogers: Matt Johnson’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie
First Runner-up: Curry Barker’s Obsession
Second Runner-up: Kenji Tanigaki’s The Furious
TIFF People’s Choice Documentary Award presented by Rogers: Barry Avrich’s The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue
First Runner-up: Baz Luhrmann’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert
Second Runner-up: Nick Davis’ You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution…
Platform Award: Valentyn Vasyanovych’s To The Victory!
Honourable Mention: György Pálfi’s Hen
The winning filmmaker will receive a $20,000 cash prize. This year’s jurors were Carlos Marqués-Marcet, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, and Chloé Robichaud.
Best Canadian Feature Film Award: Zacharias Kunuk’s Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband)
Honourable Mention: Min Sook Lee’s There Are No Words
Best Canadian Discovery Award:Sophy Romvari’s Blue Heron
Each winning filmmaker will receive a $10,000 cash prize. This year’s jurors were Jennifer Baichwal, R.T. Thorne, and Sophie Jarvis.
Honourable Mention: Kunsang Kyirong’s 100 Sunset
Best Canadian Short Film: Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski’s The Girl Who Cried Pearls
Honourable Mention: Heather Young’s A Soft Touch
Best International Short Film: Joecar Hanna’s Talk Me
Honourable Mention: Arvin Belarmino and Kyla Danelle Romero’s Agapito
Best Animated Short Film: Agnès Patron’s To the Woods
The Short Cuts Award winners each receive a $10,000 bursary. This year’s jury members were Ashley Iris Gill, Connor Jessup, and Marcel Jean.
International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Prize: Lucía Aleñar Iglesias’ Forastera
Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema (NETPAC) Award:Jitank Singh Gurjar’s In Search of The Sky
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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